Awkward Family Photos: Exhibit opens in SoCal

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Every family has the picture-perfect shot of the gang gathered together on the grassy front lawn, at the lake or on the beach at sunset. The girls are in crisp white dresses, the boys in pressed khakis. Mom’s hair is curled and Dad’s combed. You’re all wearing a smile worthy of a toothpaste commercial.

Maybe the photo was taken by a professional or by Aunt Judy who is a hobby photographer. No matter, it’s the shot that’s going above the fire place or on the holiday card.

The Awkward Family Photos exhibit on display at the California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica, Calif., through July 27, 2014, is not about that photo. Instead it’s about the less-than-picture-perfect shots that were taken leading up to that one that gets hung above the fireplace. The photos that had the photographer saying, “Please open your eyes,” “No bunny ears!” “Stop pulling hair!” “Why’s there a random cow walking across your lawn?” or “Oh my God, your dress strap just broke!”

The collection of over 200 photos were pulled from the wildly popular website Awkward Family Photos that’s known for presenting that realistic side of family life that our culture tries to hide. They’re the shots that don’t go on the cover of the family photo album but are still included because they make everyone laugh.

The exhibit is a dream come true for Awkward Family Photos founders Mike Bender and Doug Chernack. “We always had this crazy idea of putting together an exhibition,” Bender told SFGate. “There’s something funny about the juxtaposition of putting these photos in a serious museum environment. There’s something powerful about seeing the photos that you look at online in a museum.”

“Everyone who walks through is going to relate to something,” Bender adds. “They’re going to connect with an image and think, ‘Oh yeah, my brother punched me like that once.’ We’re celebrating that other side of family that we don’t always talk about.”

Bender and Chernack launched Awkward Family Photos in 2009 after Bender noticed an awkward vacation photo hanging in his parents’ house. They figured there were probably plenty of other people out there with their own awkward family images, and the two friends decided to create a friendly place where everyone could come together and share their uncomfortable family moments.